One of the things that makes my ‘soul sing’ is spending time in my garden. I have always loved gardening and in my previous houses have had fairly small gardens to tend, so was extremely fortunate, on my last move, to inherit a larger well-established garden from the previous owner of our house. I find the more time I spend in it the happier it makes me, and there really is no place quite like it when the birds are singing on a sunny day like it was last Sunday.
Whilst a garden isn’t something everyone wants or is possible for everyone to have, and there are also those who like a garden but want one that is as maintenance free as possible, I think, you will agree, that whatever you feel about a garden of your own everyone can appreciate a really well tendered beautiful garden.
A friend of mine, who isn’t really into gardening, recently decided to lay Astro Turf in his latest garden revamp. At the time, this amused me no end as it isn’t something I would have thought of putting in my garden. I must say, however, that I was quite impressed with the end result of an extremely tidy and ordered garden. He kindly agreed for me to share a picture of it here for you.
My desire for a really lovely garden stemmed from a trip that my husband and I took about 16 years ago. We were lucky enough to visit Butchart Gardens in Victoria, Canada and Byodo-In-Temple, Oahu, Hawaii on a great trip away we took before having our children. The Acers at Buschard in the Autumn fall were breathtakingly beautiful. At the time, we had a really tiny garden but upon our return we planted lots of Acers in terracotta pots and placed them on our terrace. They were really stunning, especially in Autumn, and we were lucky enough to be able to move them to our current house and plant them out. At Byodo-In-Temple in Oahu not only were the gardens breathtakingly beautiful but it was also possible to feed the birds from your hand there. The act of feeding the birds was such a special moment for me and is something that has always remained special to me, whenever I think of it, which is always when I’m in my own garden. If you ever get the opportunity to visit either of these gardens I would thoroughly recommend you visit them.
There are always ways to escape to a garden, near you, with so many gardens that are open to the public in the UK or if you are away on holiday. Here are a few gardens which are really special to me, within the UK, which are fabulous places to visit:
Trellisick Garden – Feock, near Truro, Cornwall
The Beth Chatto Gardens – Elmstead Market, Colchester, Essex
Royal Botanic Gardens – Kew, Brentford Gate, London
Finally, I thought I would leave you with this quote which I love:
“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow” ~ Audrey Hepburn
It would be great to hear your comments on your favourite garden(s).
Until next time. Nicky @NickyClaydon.
Great Astro-Turf photo along with Socks the cat who also loves the grass. I see the blog writing is starting to take shape, keep up the good work enjoyable reading
One of the most wonderful places I have been to this year was The Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. I loved the story of how they discovered and rescued it, I was really interested in the permaculture systems they use in places and signed up to a course in Sussex as a result!
We have a beautiful garden called The Isabella near us, in Richmond Park Nicky. In full bloom it’s stunning.
We need you round our place! Am afraid we still have bark where there should be plants. :-/
I grew up with a lovely garden and intend to make ours a picture before I reach for a zimmer!
Lovely post Nicky. Hampton Court Palace Gardens, Winkworth Arboretum and Hatchlands are some of my favourite local gardens. Each has its own character. I like to be able to feel a link with the designer when I walk round. The other special place was the Royal Botanical Garden just outside Kandy, Sri Lanka – this had huge fruit bats hanging from then trees, which was quite scary!
Love this post Nicky my favourite place is my garden, the best place in the world to unwind getting down and dirty digging in that beautiful soil (or brick as my garden was when I started). Quite obsessed with taking photos of it 🙂
It is very easy to forget I live in London when out there I have a very wild look and no lawn, a bit of waste of space in my opinion unless you have young children. Shade is my challenge and my pond my best achievement.
I love Beth Chattos garden too.
I love visiting gardens – Meldon Park Kitchen Garden is one of our favourites here in Northumberland, and I love the walled garden at Wallington Hall and Alnwick Gardens – and my Mams garden is lovely! My own garden… not so good… I don’t really make the time for it so when I do make a go of it it’s a massive job! Although I have to admit I find it very satisfying once I’m done 🙂
Someone mentioned the Lost Gardens of Heligan – I remember going there when I was little and we sang “On the boardwalk” in the Jungle bit. That was a lovely place and I hope to go back someday – Monets Garden in Giverney is also well worth a visit. Beautiful places.
What a nice post. I love the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park and Kew Gardens as well. We have such wonderful parks and gardens in England we’re spoilt for choice.
Thanks Nicole. We are so lucky to have such beautiful parks and gardens to visit in the UK, aren’t we. Sometimes people are so keen to get away on holiday abroad and forget there is so much here to appreciate in the UK.
Nicky, after living in a flat in Mumbai, we’re enjoying our little patch of garden in our temporary home in Hyderabad. Gardening is so therapeutic! Ours is messy as they come – but we love it.
I enjoyed visiting the Churchill Gardens in Southend-by-the-Sea in the UK. And I loved all the flowers in the street too.
How lovely to have lived in Mumbai and now Hyderabad Corinne. I haven’t visited the Churchill Gardens for a long time, so must put that on my to do list in the Spring. Essex is a lovely County and glad you enjoyed it when you were here 🙂
Artificial turf has come a long way since astroturf and is really quite realistic now! Beth Chatto’s garden is a personal favourite with me as well and not far away for me to visit – there is alway something inspirational to see there. Hyde Hall for the same reason and the walled garden at Marks Hall near Coggeshall is great. I went to Keukenhof in Holland in April to see the tulips – they were stunning.